Our Mission To improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth by providing services and leadership in partnership with families, schools and communities. Our Goals
As you may recall, Iowa’s Area Education Agencies announced that the AEAs will subsidize costs for districts to upgrade their Iowa Department of Education-provided FastBridge (FAST) subscriptions to include additional functionality in the areas of mathematics and behavior. As a reminder, the deadline for 2018-19 participation (beginning fall 2018) is June 15, 2018. You can indicate your interest in participating in the fall assessments at this link. Heartland AEA schools that have signed up for the expanded assessment suite can be found at this link. Schools that want to purchase FastBridge for grades 7-12 should email the name of the their district, school, contact person, grade levels requesting to purchase, and student enrollment in those grades to sales@fastbridge.org. Also, many districts have started preparing for the spring and fall implementation for these assessments by participating in these upcoming webinars. Please be sure to register to participate in these webinars. A recording of each training session will be shared after each session.
Iowa's AEAs presented their 2nd annual AEA Awards at their annual boards’ conference last week to five deserving recipients This is the second year for the awards, which are an opportunity to recognize and celebrate outstanding candidates for their contributions to education and the AEA system. You can read about this year’s award recipients and their generous contributions on our website. It’s worth the read! (Pictured above, left to right) E. Robert Stephens Award Evan Abbey, Project Director of AEA Learning Online Friend of the AEAs Dr. Janet Stutz, superintendent of Grinnell-Newburg Community Schools Innovative Creator Award Cindy Cavanagh and Teresa Wyant, staff at Mississippi Bend AEA Friend of the AEAs Miller Roskamp, supporter of River Hills School
In an effort to share more information about the role that Iowa's AEAs play in supporting education, last week we (Iowa's AEAs) launched a redesigned website and a new video! We invite you to take a minute to watch the video, peruse the website and share both with your colleagues!
Secondary science teachers in the Perry Community School District are once again hosting a secondary science unit writing summer camp on June 13. This workshop is open to all secondary science teachers in grades 6-12. Teachers will meet in the Perry High School library and then break into grade level / subject-based teams and create a NGSS Unit to use in the 2018-19 school year. Participants will have access to all units created. Heartland AEA will also share some of the many instructional resources available through the AEA. To register, contact Kevin Vidergar, Perry CSD Director of Teaching and Learning, at kevin.vidergar@perry.k12.ia.us or (515) 608-2866.
Friday, April 6, 2018
Our Mission To improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth by providing services and leadership in partnership with families, schools and communities. Our Goals
The Iowa Department of Education in collaboration with the Iowa School Safety Alliance will be hosting school behavioral threat assessment training that is part of developing comprehensive school emergency operations plans. The Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Healthy Students, is offering a one day Train-the-Educator training designed to familiarize schools and school districts with school behavioral threat assessments in preventing and reducing targeted violence at K-12 schools. Topics covered include how a threat assessment team can be integrated into the broader framework of school safety, security, emergency management and preparedness put forth in the Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans. The intended audiences for this training are school administrators, teachers, counselors, support staff, community partners such as law enforcement and school resource officers, and representatives from community groups.
This is a great way to improve safety efforts in your school. The course is FREE and will be held on May 1, 2018 at Heartland AEA, 6500 Corporate Drive in Johnston from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Due to limited seating, it is important to register soon. Registration closes on April 24. Register for this training session online at this link.
